Mask or No Mask: That Is The Question

Hedo continues to struggle with wearing the mask. So much that he tossed it during the 1st half last night. The damn thing is crampin' his style. Oh yeah, and apparently affecting his game too.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the Raptors doctors give him the "all clear" so he can scrap it all together.

I look up before the tip and see Hedo fussing with the straps of the mask and then about six minutes in I notice itís gone and I figure somethingís wrong with the strap and itís being fixed.

Then he never wears it again and Iím like, ďoh, oh, this might be an issue.Ē

Says Turk when I asked him:

ďItís really bothering me because the gameís Iím playing with it, itís effecting my shot and my game. Iíd rather take it off and play without it.

ďIt makes me look bad, and not just from the look. Iím not worried about that; I look bad playing, not myself. You keep trying to fix it, it slides. You go into a pick and you get hit and hit covers the face. I make that decision Ö itís basketball, you never know, but at least I know Iíll feel more comfortable now and try to play without it.Ē

The best thing everyone can hope for today is that when the doctors get a look at him again they find that the tiny fracture has healed well enough to go sans mask. And, believe me, it must be getting a lot better because there would have been a big issue with the staff last night had it not.

Most the players wearing masks in the league are for broken noses, not fractured orbital bones. If you take a look at the mask contruction, its designed to cover the bottom portion of the eye socket (hence the smaller holes for the eyes compared to Hamilton's) As Hedo stated, it moves very easily and obstructs his view and its very apparent during games that it does not sit well. You think they would be able to make one that doesn't shift around so easily......As for using it as an excuse for slumping, well thats a different story, because hes been slumping all year because of conditioning, no "ball", and to me, AGE.
Heres a picture of Rip's

I suffered the same injury in university. During a game I dove for a loose ball and knocked my face against another player's head that was also diving for the ball. I got a concussion and had two hairline fractures in my orbital bone. The doctor said that if I was hit again that the fracture could raise up and damage my eye as the orbital bone is almost as thin as an eggshell and your eyeball sits in it. It took me 2 months before I could play again, mostly because my face was purple, brown, yellow, etc and it was swollen out almost an inch. I looked like Erik Stolz playing "Rocky" in the movie Mask. Our team trainer tried to get me to wear a mask, but it wasn't see through and wasn't molded to fit my face. I couldn't wear it because it was too obstructive and still put pressure on the swollen portion of my face. I ended up sitting out 2 months worth of the season because of it.

I'm certain that Hedo's mask would be fitted for his face and from the two small bruises that he had a few days after the elbow, I doubt that it was as significant an injury as I had. Hopefully he should be cleared soon one would think. Even though the mask is clear, it's still very hard to play with and would take a lot to get used to. I know that Rip Hamilton wears his because his nose has been broken so many times that there is little to no cartilage left and he needs the mask for protection.

I don't know if he is making excuses for his poor play, but playing with something strapped to your face and being a bit more cautious of taking a hit in the face would probably make most players play a bit differently.